What You Need to Know
Missouri requested to classify the following food and beverages as restricted SNAP food. Missouri will eliminate the items outlined below as no longer being SNAP or SuN Bucks (SEBT) allowed.
Definitions updated and approved by FNS on June 15, 2026.
Excluded Food Items
Candy Definition:
- "Candy" means a product that involves the preparation of sugar or artificial sweeteners in combination with chocolate, fruit, nuts, caramels, gummies, and hard candies or other ingredients or flavorings in the form of bars, drops, or pieces. Candy does not include items containing flour or requiring refrigeration.
Pre-packaged Ready to Eat Desserts Definition:
- “Pre-packaged Ready to Eat Desserts" means a processed, shelf-stable, ready-to-eat, pre-packaged sweet food intended for immediate consumption without any further preparation. This includes doughnuts, brownies, cupcakes, cookies, snack cakes, muffins, pastries, sweet rolls, pies, cakes, pudding, churros, scones, and gelatin desserts. This would include foods mostly made from "chemically" modified substances extracted from foods, along with additives to enhance taste, texture, appearance, and durability, with minimal whole foods.
Excluded Beverages
Soda, Juice, Punch and Tea Definition:
- Carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks, defined as any nonalcoholic beverage that is made with or without carbonated water and is sweetened with more than 10 grams of sugar per serving. "Soft drinks" do not include a beverage that contains milk, milk products, soy, rice, or other milk substitutes, or that is greater than 50 percent vegetable or fruit juice by volume.
- All other drinks or punches with natural fruit or vegetable juice which contain 50 percent or less by volume natural fruit or vegetable juice.
- Concentrates intended to be made into beverages which contain 50 percent or less by volume of natural fruit or vegetable juice.
Energy Drink Definition:
- Energy drinks, which are carbonated or non-carbonated beverages containing a stimulant such as fortified caffeine, guarana, glucuronolactone, or taurine. They may also include herbal extracts such as ginseng, mineral salts and vitamins, or high doses of organic acids, amino acids, inositol, sugars, or other similar compounds in addition to sweeteners. Juices or natural fruit pulp or concentrates may also be added. Energy drinks are specifically formulated to enhance energy, alertness, or physical performance. Beverages marketed primarily as sports drinks to increase hydration, such as Gatorade or as medically necessary nutritional products, are not included.
Contact Information
To send a public comment on the Healthy SNAP Waiver, email DSS.DirectorsOffice@dss.mo.gov.
For questions on Missouri's SNAP program, please contact 855-373-4636. For more information on the SNAP program, please visit: mydss.mo.gov/food-assistance.